


Hero of Justice, Light!

by MajorGodComplex



Category: Death Note
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Dragons, Fantasy, Hero Complex, Humor, Love/Hate, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Princes & Princesses, Romance, Secret Identity
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-28
Updated: 2015-05-28
Packaged: 2018-04-01 17:51:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4029148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MajorGodComplex/pseuds/MajorGodComplex
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Light has been training his entire life to be the hero. A handsome and intelligent prince, the kingdom thought him a shoe in to fulfill the prophecy...that is, until the mysterious young magician L came along. Now they're both on a quest for the Book of Life-- a quest full of evil villains, beautiful princesses, secret identities, and lots and lots of magic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hero of Justice, Light!

**I. Hero of Justice, Light!**

The narrator of this story is unreliable.

It’s not as if they don’t know what they’re talking about—they do, they promise—it’s just that they happen to be _extremely_ biased toward the main character. He can do no wrong. Just keep that in mind as you read through this…er… _interesting_ adventure. It features a boy, a book, a second boy who may or may not be even better than the first, evil villains, beautiful princesses, secret identities, and lots and _lots_ of magic.

But first, enjoy some (hopefully) tastefully done exposition.

* * *

 

There are no standard punishments for breaking the laws in the western kingdoms. Court cases are elaborate dances of protocol and each verdict is unique and tailored to the individual as well as the crime. While in theory a punishment unique to the crime seems to be the most just system, the result is a more corrupt system where getting off without a scrape is easy, provided your family has enough money and social standing.

Just last week, news spread throughout the kingdom that one of Kilride’s worst killers had been revealed to be none other than the son of one of the most respected dukes. The result of his guilty sentence? One-hundred-and-two hours of community service. Hardly a herculean task. Meanwhile, a poor petty thief had lost both his hands after being caught, a punishment thought by the eastern kingdoms to be too cruel and unusual to be considered. Had the Kilride Killer been an average citizen instead of the son of a duke, there was no question that he would be dead twelve times over.

Prince Light of Innisfall thought it terrible corrupt, and planned to change all of that when he became king. Unfortunately, that seemed to be a long ways off, and while that would fix things in his little corner of the four kingdoms, the world as a whole would be rotting from the disease that plagued the justice system.

Even if he did manage to fix the justice system in Innisfall, technically he couldn’t even touch the elven races; a pity considering the light-skinned white-eyed elves of the southern regions with their pathetic pantheon of fake gods have the silly little habit of pillaging human villages and committing unnecessary crimes. They rely on their failing meritocracy to keep them afloat, which could work if it weren’t for the fact that the entire species isn’t particularly gifted. It’s impossible to prosecute them in a human court of law without inching even closer to an all-out war with another species, something Light’s father has not been willing to risk just so the people in his outlying villages can sleep without fear.

Still, Light has always known that he was destined for greatness, and with the power and glory that would inevitably be his after fulfilling his destiny, the probability of his future people questioning his legal decisions was very low…if he succeeded, that is.

That was the problem with his father. Though Soichiro was the King of Innisfall, and always had been in line for the throne, he never did anything especially…well… _heroic_ that would gain the unwavering support of the people. True, he was a good and wise ruler that always put his people first, but there were always disgruntled voices of wannabe politicians claiming a need for democracy, communism, republicanism, etc. because they were disgruntled with the kings choices. It was always like that with people who ascended the throne by birthright.

The king of Kilride however had unwavering support from a people that practically worshipped him, no matter how terrible his decisions, simply because he defeated a dragon or twelve in his younger years and was a famous prophecy child.

So of course when the prophecy was issued mere days before his birth, the people of Innisfall were more than willing to train him from a young age to be the perfect hero to fulfill the prophecy.

That was why he was named Light. _He will be a light to the nations._

Yes. Prince Light of Innisfall was perfect in every single way. Not only was he a prince, he was also widely considered the most intelligent boy in the four kingdoms, as well as an excellent fighter with the sort of good-looks heroes are supposed to have.

He didn’t even feel the burden of responsibility.

Still, he was growing a bit impatient waiting for his destiny. If only there was a way to speed things up…

And so, done with his weapons training for the day, the impatient and a tad bit bored genius sat himself down at the well-lit table in the middle of the castle library with a huge stack of books. Innisfall was famous for many things, but one thing Light was the most grateful for was its title of ‘third largest home library in the four kingdoms’ as written in the latest issue of _Gnome and Gardens_ magazine. Every inch of the wall covering the large circular room was filled with beautiful mahogany bookshelves at least fifty feet up, each filled with every sort of book you could imagine.

In his life, Light had read about one-fourth of them.

Currently, his stack included _A Questers Guide to the Kingdoms, Mermen and Where to Find Them, Destinies: Is Yours Real?, The Dark Side and it’s Inherent Racism_ , and _101 Dragons_.

He was just about to crack open the first one, when he heard a familiar squeal behind him.

_Not again._ He thought to himself, bracing himself for the oncoming embrace.

Misa Amane threw her arms around his neck from behind, kissing him on the top of his head.

“Liiiiight!” She sang, “Will you take me on another walk through the garden today?”

“I’m a little busy at the moment, Misa.” He responded stiffly, hoping she would get the hint that he didn’t want her around.

Unfortunately, she rarely ever got the hint.

“You know,” She said, crossing her arms and pouting at him, “If you want to marry me someday you’re going to have to try to be a little more romantic! You know Misa-Misa loves you Light, but just the other day I heard about a princess in Kilride who ran off with one of those eastern bookish elves. You know the types, right? It was quite a scandal.”

He almost hoped she would run off with an elf and leave him be, of course he knew that would probably only make him look bad. A prince is supposed to have a princess, and he got stuck with Misa Amane.

Alas! Life as a prince was so difficult. Not only was he so rich he barely knew what to buy and so smart no one could keep up, he was also so handsome he was being married off to the prettiest princess in the land. It might sound romantic if it weren’t all for political gain…and if Misa had at least been bearable.

She was loud, clingy, ditsy, spoiled, and hopelessly in love with Light. She didn’t seem to get the concept of marrying for power and not love.

Still, a political union with the kingdom of Osian was necessary. He sighed, playing along with his part. “Don’t run off with an elf, Misa, I’ll take you through the gardens later if you really want to go.”

“Really?” She said, perking up immediately and placing herself on Light’s lap. She rested her head against his chest, and he tried to adjust accordingly, working around her four layers of petticoats and spitting her long hair out of his mouth, giving her a single, gentle pat on the head. “Misa’s Light is the best in the whole world!”

He knew it was true, but it meant absolutely nothing coming from her mouth. Honestly, princesses were so dull, and he hasn’t met one smart princess to date. When he is inevitably forced to deal with an heir, he’ll hope for a son and absolutely no daughters. Especially if they grow up to be like their mother.

Misa was a pain in the ass, but in a way she was a comfortable pain in the ass. He didn’t want to marry her, of course, but they had been betrothed as long as he could remember, and her monthly visits to Innisfall were something he grew used to long before.

“Really, but uh…would you mind getting off of my lap? I have to finish these books.”

“You’re going to read _all those_ before you take me out?” She said in disbelief, looking at the large stack.

He laughed uncomfortably, “No, not all of them. Probably just one or two, but I hope to get a good start flipping through some. See this one here? _The Dark Side and it’s Inherent Racism_? It talks all about how the concept of white being pure and good and causes an immediate distaste of anything darkly colored, even if that thing isn’t inherently evil. If you…”

He stopped, realizing she’d already tuned out and was busy rearranging his stack in alphabetical order. _Whatever_. He wasn’t exactly expecting her to want to stick around once he started rattling off book knowledge, which was, of course, one of the reasons he always started on them once he grew tired of her.

“That’s very interesting, Light.” She nodded, “But I think I’m going to go off to see if your mother needs any help.”

“Good luck with that.”

“Oh!” She said suddenly, pulling a small wrapped package out of her purse. “I almost forgot, I made this for you myself, earlier! I’m trying to work on learning to sew. I know fixing up clothes and such is something the maids can always do, but I just wanted to make you a little gift all by myself!”

“That’s very nice, Misa.” He said, feigning sincerity when he saw the little thing she had made him. Honestly, he couldn’t quite puzzle out what it was, and he was hoping she wouldn’t ask him about it. He smiled. The stitching was all wrong. Light actually did know how to sew, and it looked as though Misa didn’t have the patience for it. “I’ll use it all the time, I promise.”

“You better!” She laughed, turning and skipping towards the exit. Before walking out the door, she swung around, “I love you _soooo_ much, Light! Don’t forget our date later.” She winked, and was out the door.

He sighed, picking up the questing book again.

…but what if this whole “destined for greatness” thing was a hoax? What if the rest of his life is going to be him marrying Misa, having heirs, and attempting to run a kingdom while someone else saves the world? He would be nothing special. Sure, he would be a king and one of the four most powerful men in the world, but he wouldn’t be anything _special_ special. Everyone knows that’s because of birth, and not merit. What if it’s all a lie and he never has a chance to prove himself?

He looked down, realizing that he had read the same sentence about prophecies and where to find them twelve times. He shut the book, and picked up the stack to take with him. It’s not like he’s going to get much reading done anyway…

Perhaps he should work on the new song he was learning for his psaltery? He remembered playing it always used to be soothing for him when he was younger. It used to be important for him to learn an instrument. The key to being cultured, they all said. As he grew older, however, he learned that knowing which strings to play on his bowed psaltery to churn out the perfect music was a useless skill in a battle. Still, from time to time…

He was on his way to the music room when he heard it—hushed voices in a rarely used corridor. He stopped, putting his back to the wall and halting his breathing to try and catch what they were saying.

“…and you can’t find it anywhere?”

“Nowhere. I don’t know where it went.”

“…stolen?”

“But if it had been, then…”

“If the king were to find out…executed…”

“We have bigger problems than being executed…Book of Life…”

“…hero…”

“Not time, but perhaps if we searched…”

“ _How the hell did you lose the Book of Life?”_

Light mentally cursed his poor hearing. It was difficult to piece together a conversation using only key words, but from what he’d gathered so far…it seemed as though the Book of Life had gone missing, and the ones in charge were keeping it hushed up.

This was big. Was this his destiny? No, it was better not to jump too far ahead. He was still mostly unaware of the situation. The best thing to do would be to pretend it never happened, and let it all sort itself out…if the Book of Life was really stolen, sooner or later it would come out, and it would be _huge_. Searching for it on his own wouldn’t do any good.

That’s what he told himself throughout his psaltery lesson. That’s what he told himself throughout his obligatory garden walk with Misa. That’s what he told himself as he stood next to his father’s throne, silently listening to the audiences he couldn’t made decisions in.

When his servants undressed him and left him alone for the night, and he saw a large old book resting under his fine silk sheets, he was telling himself something completely different.

He quickly walked across his room to his door, clicking the lock and draping a nearby handkerchief over the keyhole.

_Could this be…?_

He slowly opened up the book, to see that every single line of every single page was filled up with names and dates and organized by race and species.

_This is it._

He’d read about it, of course, but only a select few knew the books location and it was to never leave its secret place.

Light stared at the book for several minutes, flipping through it after a length and studying each name in detail. He thought about the ideas that had been swimming through his head recently. He thought about the thief, and the Kilride Killer.

Pushing aside any thought of consequences, he hopped off the bed and moved swiftly towards his desk, opening up drawers until coming across a small eraser. He moved to open the book again.

He flipped to the _mankind_ category, flipping page after page after page until coming across the name _Janus de Rais,_ the Kilride Killer.Slowly and carefully, he erased the name from the book.

_Goodbye, Janus de Rais._

He’d always wanted to fix it, but till now he had no idea how. Perhaps this book was his heroic destiny after all.  

**Author's Note:**

> I did it. I combined my odd obsessive love for fantasy worlds with my equally odd and obsessive love for Death Note, to create an AU that the world probably isn't ready for. The title is a working title, by the way, just because my dreams of calling it "Knight Light" as a stupid pun were shattered when I made him a prince instead.  
> Hope you enjoy it, I'm actually probably going to write this all the way until the end, and let me know what you think! Also, this is set in a fantasy world that does not take itself seriously at all, so keep that in mind I guess.


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